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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

I always had a crush on Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher did such a great job with that character. She was a sassy, take charge kind of chic but at the same time likeable and somewhat vulnerable. If you watch the original Star Wars audition tapes you'll see some of the other actesses that tried out for the role. One actress was Cindy Williams from Lavern and Shirley Fame, so glad she didn't get the role but Carrie did!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

When I saw the Rebel Transport was made into a toy, I instantly wanted it. I begged my mom but she said "no". I originally saw it at the Best catalog store. About a month later it was my birthday and about a week before I saw my mom come back from shopping. Sneaky me was able to see through one of the bags as she walked by and I saw the Rebel Transport, I thought "Woohoo". The only drawback was I had to wait a week to get it. I didn't play with this space craft as much as the Millennium Falcon but what was great about his ship is it doubled as a storage case for all of your action figures. Remember those little holes on the bottom of each figure's feet and all the play sets with the little pegs? These allowed your Star Wars people to stand up, good times!

Monday, February 18, 2013

While we are on the planet of Hoth let me tell you a little about my Snow Speeder story. When I saw Empire Strikes Back, I thought the Snow Speeder was the coolest, later that summer I was hoping they would release a snow speeder toy. I remember it took a while for Kenner to release it but did come out later that summer, only certain stores had it so my mom had to drive me to the other end of the city to buy it. I sure that fun with that!

The snow speeder was really a space ship because it wasn't made for space travel. It was a craft used to travel the surface of the planet. I loved the scene where the rebels used the snow speeder to bring down the Imperial Walker!

Of all the Star Wars landscapes Hoth was one of my favorites, maybe it’s because I’m from Minnesota? I remember my best friend and I used to go out after a snow storm and build the rebel base and reenact scenes from the movie. The best was one week we got about 3 feet of snow, my dad had just snow plowed and it made the perfect, sharp-edged wall. This enabled us to create rooms and corridors and the landing bay for all the ships. Of course the most fun was the imperial assault!

This is similar to the AT-AT or Imperial Walker I had as a kid and you'll see the Scout Walker as well. We used to have fun having Luke Skywalker crawl up the walker and throw a grenade in it!

Vintage 1979 Star Wars Empire Strikes Back Millennium Falcon

Out of all of my Stars Wars toys growing up the Millennium Falcon has to be my favorite, at least in the space craft category. The ship had everything; the chess table, the smuggling compartment, the guns, the decoy for Luke to practice the force and more!

I wish I had kept the boxes for my other Star Wars toys like the X-Fighter, the Snow Speeder, the AT AT. I did keep the box for the Millennium Falcon, mostly so I could easily store it.

I’ve had an affinity for Star Wars for most of my life. As geeky as this may sound it true! I was born in the seventies and grew up in the eighties. I remember when I was about 5 years old my sister and her friends took me to the theater to see Star Wars, we waiting in line and to our disappointment that showing was sold out! Instead we had to see International Velvet, I’ll never forget out sad I was and that other movie not something a kid would enjoy. Eventually my parents took me to see Star Wars and I was hooked, soon enough I was collecting Star Wars toys, trading cards and anything else I could get my mom to buy for me. A few years later, when I was a bit older, my mom took me and my friends to see Empire Strikes Back for my birthday. What a movie that was! I remember being riveted to my seat with suspense. Even at a young age I could see how the movie had evolved and my imagination starting going wild with the infinite possibilities in the universe around us.

Now that I’m a grown up, I’ve parted with most of my Star Wars toys. I was amazed how much I was able to make by selling them on eBay. Whoever would have thought the toys would be worth so much today? One toy I never got rid of was my Millennium Falcon, now it is my 5 year old nephew’s favorite toys. This blog is a celebration of Star Wars and Star Wars Toys, memorabilia and other cool stuff.